


Glittering Masques

by ImperialRemnant



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: M/M, POV jughead & archie, idk what to tag this... there's kissing?, masquerade ball... sorta, short and sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-18
Updated: 2017-02-18
Packaged: 2018-09-25 08:06:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9810644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImperialRemnant/pseuds/ImperialRemnant
Summary: Who doesn't love a good Masquerade Ball? Especially when people get to wonder who the mysterious person is that Archie Andrews made out with.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I had a need to write something short and quick again for Jarchie, so here it is. I kinda thought of the whole Masquerade Ball thing, which I'm a huge fan of when reading fics, but this is nothing like the ones I usually come across :\ mostly 'cause this is hella short haha.  
> Umm... again, my Riverdale/Jarchie blog on tumblr is jarchieriverdale  
> My main tumblr blog is imperialremnant  
> The fic hasn't been edited so apologies for any errors.

********A Masquerade Ball was cause for wild excitement, especially at Riverdale where nothing much happened in the first place.

Well, excluding the murder of Jason Blossom. But that was a while ago now, and everyone needed something else to talk about.

The crowds were filling into the event hall, mostly students, being a student event, but they’d invited the parents too, and the teachers, and other workers. Who were they kidding, they made it into a town-wide event. Everyone was there. Some people were easy to recognise, their masks not so large or outrageous. And others were recognised only by their voices, or the way they stood, and who else was lingering around them.

But not everyone could be so obvious. One boy slipping inside when the crowd was already large and people comfortably in their circles and dancing with partners. The event hall was brimming with twinkling decorations of gold and blue.

The boy had a mask on that gave him the look of having an exaggerated pointed nose, the mask hugging around his face. A pitch black in colour, splattered with sparkles of purple. His dark hair jelled back and wisping at the back. His suit, too, was black, and well fitting, a matching purple tie to go with the sparkles.

Tonight, he was invisible.

Well, he could always be invisible, really. A magnificent trait he’d accidentally procured over his years of living. But what made him exceptionally invisible tonight, was the fact that Jughead Jones wasn’t wearing his beanie, the one thing most people used to identify him, and were perhaps hoping to do so tonight.

He spotted Archie in the distance, with Veronica and Betty, all three wearing masks, as was the point of a masquerade ball.

Archie’s red hair was obvious, his mask only small and Zorro-like, wearing a basic black tux. Betty’s had pale pink leaves stemming around it, light green and rounded as the base. A matching knee-length bouffant gown to go with it. Veronica’s mask was sharper, pointier, like cat-eye glasses. It was black and a dark shade of red swirls, and as such, so was her dress, tighter and more form fitting, spreading out at the bottom and gracefully fluttering to the ground.

Jughead lingered around the buffet, looking closely at his friends, though his heart skipped a beat when he looked at Archie... for some reason. He argued to himself that it was the food, and the sight of dark chocolate fudge brownies gave him this feeling he was harshly denying. He even grabbed one for good measure, looking at Archie and feeling his throat constrict.

Jughead spluttered, almost coughing up the brownie.

If only he could talk to him. Or hug him. And he could, he absolutely could, but something unknown was stopping him. Maybe the presence of Betty and Veronica, maybe it was all this food, perhaps the idea of asking him to dance dawned on him and freaked him out.

Not that it mattered if two guys were dancing. Two friends could absolutely dance together. And he watched as Betty and Veronica took to the dance floor, leaving Archie at the side, alone.

Jughead finished the brownie, wiping his hands on his trousers. Then, rather than going around the outside of the event hall to get to Archie, he sprung through the assortment of dancers, tapering as he moved between people. Curving, bending, serpentine.

“Hey Arch,” Jughead reached his friend.

“Jug! Hey, I was wondering if you were coming,” of course Archie would recognise him right away, especially when he’d spoken. “Nice mask.”

“Thanks,” Jughead said, “I would say the same to you but... I’m sure you could’ve done better. Two-out-of-ten.”

“I didn’t have time,” Archie claimed, “Besides, I didn’t want to wear something so--,” he waved his hands as he gestured at Jughead’s mask, trying to make some kind of point.

“Beautiful?” Jughead suggested.

“I was thinking more towards overly elaborate, but sure,” Archie said, staring off at the dancers closest to them. Jug couldn’t catch who was there, as people danced on from the spot quickly to be replaced by others.

The Orchestra was playing tonight, as opposed to the Pussycats. It was fitting some kind of 1800s theme, Jughead was sure, not that everyone looked it.

“You’re not wearing your beanie,” Archie said.

“Astute of you, Andrews,” Jughead laughed, especially when Archie pet his hair, as though fascinated to see it. He probably was, it’s not like Jughead ever took the beanie off in the first place. Except in the shower.

“Well it looks nice,” Archie was playing with the hair at the back before drawing his hand away.

“Whoa, careful, first my mask and now my hair? Sorry, if you want more flirting points, you need to buy me a burger,” Jughead was smiling, jesting of course, but Archie laughed and said, “Okay, I’ll remember to do that.”

_No, he wouldn’t._ But Jughead smiled, looking out at the dancefloor, throat constricting again but he made himself talk, “Wanna dance?”

“I thought you’d never ask,” Archie put a hand on his back and led him to the middle of the dance floor, but now that caused problems.

“Okay...” they both said, figuring out where to put their hands.

“What if I do the guy part,” Jughead said, “I’m like an inch taller.”

“What!? No,” Archie argued, “You get the guy part because you’re in an inch taller? Not even an _inch_.”

“Definitely at least an inch,” Jughead insisted, “I dunno how to do this.”

“Neither do I, hang on...”

After some... heated debate, and yes, what might’ve looked like a bit of a debacle, they managed to figure out how to dance. They weren’t even stepping on each other’s feet, which was an absolute miracle.

“This is never as fun as it looks,” Jughead said, as the two of them managed to side-step another couple just in time before they got in the way.

“Yeah, your nose is getting in the way.”

“This nose is fabulous, Arch, don’t say another word against it,” Jughead bantered.

“I dunno,” Archie angeled his head, leaning in forward, “see it’s kinda...” he didn’t finish the sentence, and Jug first felt Archie’s breath close to his lips, then felt his actual lips on his lips.

Jughead felt a burst of excitement in his chest, making himself calm down when Archie straightened back up with a stupid grin on his face, “Hey, I did it!”

Jughead was glad his mask covered a good portion of his face, because he was pretty sure he’d gone a brilliant shade of red. “Yeah, who’d o’ thunk?”

“Are you okay?” Archie asked, smile fading.

“Yeah I’m great!” Jughead said quickly, not wanting to think he didn’t want to be kissed, “I’m perfect, I’m fantastic, a hundred and ten percent.”

That’s when Jughead remembered there was also many, many others in this room too. Since they were in the middle of a dance. He felt his palms sweat.

“I gotta go,” Jug said, letting go of Archie, about to run outside.

“Whoa, hey, don’t Cinderella out on me. Was that a bad idea?” Archie had taken hold of his upper arm to stop him from running.

“No, Arch, it was fine- more than fine. But, sorry Prince Charming, I do have to go.”

He felt terrible afterwards that he’d left Archie standing in the middle of the dance floor, partnerless. But, in his defence, he panicked. That was unexpected. Wanted, definitely, but unexpected.

* * *

Archie stared dumbly as Jughead ran off, wondering if what he’d done was stupid. But, he was sure Jug would have said something other than it was “more than fine” if he hadn’t wanted to be kissed.

When he mentally knocked himself back into the present, Archie figured he should stand to the side again, since he was getting in the way of the dancers, but was quickly swooped up into another dance by Kevin.

“Uh, and _who_ was that?” Kevin asked, clearly having seen the kiss. But Archie frowned, since it had noticeably been Jughead, wasn’t that obvious?

* * *

“Who. Was. That. Guy!?” his dad met him outside after the dance, ready to go home, having taken off his own mask. He stared at his son in excitement. Oh god, he’d seen him kiss Jug.

Archie blinked in surprise before answering, “Are you kidding? Come on, dad, it was Jug,”

His dad laughed, messing Archie’s hair up.

“Dad!” Archie exclaimed, patting his hair down, trying to make it orderly again, but couldn’t keep a grin off his face.

“So you and Jug huh?” His dad put his hands in his pockets, “that’s good. That’s great.”

“Okay, just shut up about it, we’re not anything official yet.”

* * *

It appeared to be a trend, Archie noted, that no one knew it was Jug he’d kissed.

On Monday at school, the first thing Reggie asked was “Who was the guy!?” when he passed Archie’s desk. But it wasn’t malicious, more playful, yet ready to tease the hell out of Archie.

“Definitely not you,” Archie gave a good-natured laugh.

“Very funny, Andrews,” Reggie took his seat.

The only two who didn’t ask were Betty and Veronica, who stayed suspiciously silent. They didn’t even ask Archie who it had been, so he figured they already knew.

His hunch was confirmed when Veronica passed and said, “Hey, the four us, Pop’s this afternoon. Double date?”

He answered, “Sure,” then remembering, “I’ve gotta buy him a burger anyway.”

Veronica didn’t seem to understand what he meant, “Can’t we, in this day and age, all pay for our own food rather than apply gender roles on couples?”

“I need to buy him a burger for flirting points,” Archie elaborated.

“Then that’s understandable,” Veronica said, unshaken, taking a seat right behind Archie, beside Betty.

It was when Jughead entered the classroom, taking a seat beside Archie that it clicked for people. Or, it at least clicked for Kevin who let out a rather vocal “Oooh.”

Reggie choked back what might have been a laugh, “Archie and Jughead? Really?”

Archie turned, looked Reggie straight in the eyes. He could’ve just confirmed it, he supposed, but a better idea came to mind and he turned back to Jug, who clearly was reading his mind or something, because as he did, Jughead had already leaned over to kiss him.

There was whoops of excitement, wolf-whistles and cheering. All which continued when they tore apart, and only died down when the teacher came into the classroom, everyone getting to work as per instructions.

It was half way through class, in the middle of quiet study, when Reggie spoke up so everyone heard, “Wait did Veronica say _double_ date?” With no idea who she was dating, even though Veronica and Betty turned to stare at him.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Hopefully it wasn't a huge disaster ;P


End file.
